Drying apparatus



Nov. 24, 1959 H. J. KAUFMAN DRYING APPARATUS Filed NOV. 9,- 1955 OOOOOO O O OOOO OOOOOO OO OOOO 00000000 0000 QUoooooo oooo IIL OOOOOO OO OOOO OOOOO OO OOO OOOOOOO O OOCO rv. A A A Nov. 24, 1959 H. J. KAUFMAN DRYING APPARATUS Filed Nov. 9. 1955 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 out the moisture.

United States Patent Y" DRYING APPARATUS Hiram J. Kaufman, Detroit, Mich. Application November 9, 1955, Serial No. 545,927

2 Claims. (Cl. 34-80) This invention relates to drying apparatus, more particularly to drying apparatus for clothes wherein a dehumidilier is used in conjunction with the clothes dryer.

In the operation of clothes dryers of the conventional type the damp clothes are usually placed in a rotating container and hot air is passed thru the clothes to take The moisture saturated air is then removed from lthe dryer. Cool air is drawn into the dryer, heated and expelled from the dryer in a continuous cycle thereby requiring a large amount of heat and adequate means for disposing of the saturated air. Some ldryers merely return the saturated air to the atmosphere surrounding the dryer therefore if the dryer is located in a normal room of a dwelling house that room'soon becomes hot and very humid thereby decreasing the efficiency of the machine. Another common way to dispose of the saturated air has been to direct the air thru conduits to the outdoors. This is `expensive and as the heated air is drawn from the atmosphere surrounding the dryer the eiiiciency of the dryer will vary according to the humidity of each day.

To overcome these objections yand provide a more efiicient dryer the instant invention contemplates the combining of a clothes dryer with a dehumidier such that the air which is passed thru the clothes is circulated thru the dehumidifier, dried and passed thru the clothes again,

-thereby utilizing a closed circuit which may be carefully controlled, is independent of the condition of the air outside the dryer, is very eicient because the air passing thru the clothes has had the Water removed and therefore has a larger capacity to absorb water and does not require means for disposing of the saturated air. Because of this high water absorbing efficiency the temperature of the air. need not be of such high temperatures as conventionally used and the drying operation is quickly completed thereby imposing less wear and tear on the clothes.

One object of this invention is to be able to dry clothes independently of room humidity conditions and independently of atmospheric humidity.

Another object is to dry clothes at low temperatures to 'produce ufy conditions.

Another object of the invention is to dry clothes at low temperatures to reduce the amount of lint removed from the clothes.

Another object of the invention is to reduce the amount of movement of the clothes to further reduce the amount of lint removed.

A further object of the invention -is to eliminate high temperatures caused by gas or electric heat and the consequent danger of scorching the clothes, and also remove the danger of ash tires caused by lint contacting hot surfaces.

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which may be used as a room dehumidier when not being used to dry clothes.

Recognizing that various modifications, within the scope of the invention, will be apparent to those skilled in the art, I do not intend to limit the invention to the particular embodiment described, but by way of illustration one form of the invention is presented in the specification, claims and drawings wherein: v

Fig. l is a longitudinal section through the cabine Fig. 2 is a transverse section thru the cabinet along the line 1-1,

Fig. 3 is a transverse section thru the cabinet along the line 2-2,

Fig. 4 is aplan view of the moved, and

Fig. 5 is a diagram of the control circuit of the invention.

Referring to Fig. l, the dryer unit consists o f an enclosed cabinet 20 which is provided with a base and is adapted to be supported on the oor or other suitable foundation. The cabinet is substantially divided into two compartments, the left half being the portion in which the clothes or material to be dried is located and the right portion devoted to the dehumidifier apparatus. Various doors or openings are provided in the cabinet 20 to give access to the mechanism enclosed therein such as door 23 which is opened when recharging the dehumidiier, door 24 which gives access to the humidistat as described later, door 25 permits access to the clothes drum motor, and as seen in Fig. 2 doors 21 and 22 are for loading and unloading the clothes, and removing the lint respectively.

The dehumidifier apparatus consists of a container 26 in which a vertical batlie 27 is supported. Placed within the space formed by batlie 27 and the right wall of container 26 (Fig. l) are thin perforated metal baskets 2S cabinet with the top rewhich hold the hygroscopic chemical 29. In the illustrated Another object of the invention is to produce a com I pact clothes dryer which may be readily used in the home, requires no vents and may be operated on lighting circuits. v

Another object is to produce a clothes drying apparatus I embodiment of the invention a crystalline hygroscopic chemical such as calcium chloride or magnesium chloride is used, however any suitable Water removing composition may be utilized. To insure the iiow of air in contact with the chemical 29 air pockets or passageways 30 are provided between the baskets 28 by means of spacers 31. Directly beneath baskets 28 are located a series of superimposed drip plates 32 which are perforated with staggered holes and are adapted to catch the saturated solution dripping from the dissolving chemical 29 and running down passages 30 thereby exposing the air flowing through the dehumidifier to a hygroscopic solution as well as a hygroscopic solid thereby increasing the .eiiiciency of the apparatus. Located below the drip pans is a collecting tank 33 for catching the saturated hygroscopic solution, tank 33 is provided with an outlet 34 for draining away the waste solution. It is therefore seen that air which is introduced into tank 33 will flow up through drip pans 32 and through the solution running over these pans and on upward in contact with chemical 29 thereby removing the moisture from the air.

Angle plates 35 are used to hold the baskets 28 in place and a bafe 36 of perforated metal is used to keep the chemical from being spilled during recharging.

A space 37 is located between the left wall (Fig. 1) of container 26 and baffle 27 and is provided with a drain 38. Mounted within space 37 is a fan 39 which exhausts the airfrom container 26. Fan 39 is driven by pulley 40 which in turn is powered by motor 41 through motor pulley 44 and belt 45. Motor 41 is supported by means of brackets 42 and noise insulators 43 A heating element 46 and baile 47 are located in the upper portion of space 37 for purposes described hereafter. Humidlstat 48 is attached to the containers 26 Patented Nov. 24, 19h59 by brackets 49 whose function will be apparent later. It is, therefore, apparent that fan 39 will cause a partial vacuum to be produced in container 26 thereby drawing air up in contact with the hygroscopic chemical 29, drying it and then blowing the air back into the left half (Fig. 1) of the cabinet 20'.

The left (Fig. l) half of the cabinet 20 contains the clothes rotating or tumbling drum 50. Drum 50 is of a substantially cylindrical shape, the wall of the cylinder being perforated to allow the free ow of air through the drum. Drum 50 is enclosed by a casing 51 which has an air inlet from the fan 39 and an outlet in the lower portion of the casing in which is located the lint catcher 52. Casing 51 is attached to the right wall (Fig. 2) of cabinet 20 thereby allowing the clothes to be placed in the drum. Lint catcher 52 is composed of several layers of tine V-crimped screen which are assembled, in a frame 53, with the ridge of alternate screens at right angles to each other, to door 22. Therefore when door 22 is opened the frame 53 and screen will come out with the door and the lint may be easily removed. Bafiles 54 are located in the drum 50 to give the clothes a tumbling action.

Referring to Figs. 2 and 4, the drum 50 is supported by a shaft 55 which is mounted for rotation in bearing 56 located on support post 57. A pulley 58 is attached to shaft 55 and is rotated by belt 59 which is driven by pulley 60. Pulley 60 is located on `gear reduction 61 whose power input is provided through pulley 62, belt 63 and pulley 64, the latter being mounted on electric motor 65. Therefore when motor 65 is energized the drum 50 will rotate at the desired speed.

Fan 39 is mounted within housing 90, which is the air inlet of casing 51. The fan shaft 66 is mounted in bearings 67 which are attached to container 26 by means of brackets 68.

The operation of the control circuit of Fig. will now be explained. Power input lines 70 and 89 are brought into junction box 69. Mounted on top of the cabinet 20 is a control box 71 (Fig. l) in which is located a three way switch 72, a time switch 80 and an on-olf switch 83. The control box is wired to junction box 69 in such a manner that the following circuits are possible.

In the position of switch 72 shown in Fig. 5 (solid line) relay 74 will be energized through line 73 thereby energizing the fan motor 41 through line 7S and also energizing drum motor 65 by means of line 76, closed switch 78 and line 77.

When switch 72 is in the dotted line position (Fig. 5) the time switch 80 is put in series with the circuit by means of line 79 thereby automatically timing the operating cvcle of the fan and drum motors.

Switch 83 is connected to the time switch 80 by line 82 in such a way that heating element 46 may be energized by lines 84 and 87 or may be shut ol from the remainder of the circuit.

By opening switch 78 it will be seen that the drum motor may also be shut off from the circuit.

Humidstat`48 is connected to relay 74 by suitable means for operation as later described.

The operation is as follows:

The damp clothes are placed within the drum S0. All the doors are closed and switch 78 is closed. For automatic timing operation the switch 72 would be moved to the dotted position (Fig. 5) and the time switch set for the proper time duration desired. The fan 39 and drum 50 will begin to rotate. As described above, the fan will blow air into the drum and at the same time draw the air from the drum, through the lint remover 52, up in contact with the dehumidifying solution and chemical and return the dry air back into the drum to pick up the moisture from the clothes. The construction of the casing 51, lint remover 52 and air inlet housing 90 are such that the maximum amount of air is forced to blow through the space occupied by the clothes. The water removed from the air will fall into tank 33 and be carried away by outlet A34.

If the drying time is desired to be shortened or if the cabinet 20 is located in a cold room, switch 83 may be closed during the operation of the dryer to energize the heating element to heat the air just before it enters the fan. However, during normal operation the heating element is not used as an effective drying action may be produced at room temperatures.

After the time limit of the switch has expired the machine will be stopped, the dry clothes removed and a new cycle may be started over again.

The dryer may be used as a room dehumidifyer in the following manner: the clothes lling door 21 and the humidistat door 24 should be opened and the remainder of the doors shut. Switch 78 should be opened thereby preventing operation of the drum motor. Switch 72 should be closed so as to energize the relay 74 and fan 39 but by-passing the time switch 80, and as the humidistat 48 is connected to the relay the control of the relay will be by the humidistat, therefore the operation of fan 39 will be controlled by the setting of the humidistat and the air of the room will be drawn in at the door 24, up in contact with the hygroscopic solution and chemical and blown out the door 21 by the fan, thereby removing the moisture of the room in which the dryer is located.

The baskets 28 should be kept filled with chemical of hygroscopic nature at all times which may easily be accomplished by means of door 23.

I recognize that other types of dehumidiers, fans, drums and lint removers may be used for those illustrated without departing from the scope of the invention and it will be seen that I have produced a drying unit which is compact, self contained and is independent of the outside atmospheric conditions and may be used anywhere without increasing the humidity of the room in which it is located.

I claim:

l. A clothes dryer with chemical air conditioning means for domestic use comprising a cabinet, partition stmoture disposed within said cabinet and dividing the same into juxtaposed clothes drying and air drying compartments, a rotatable horizontally disposed drying drum of perforated form supported in said clothes drying compartment, a hygroscopic solid dehydrator disposed in said air drying compartment, hygroscopic solution formed from said solid flowing downward through said dehydrator, means to rotate said drum in one direction means disposed within said cabinet and dening a recirculating air path between said compartments extending upwardly through said dehydrator in counter ow to said solution, through said partition at the upper part of said cabinet, downwardly through said drum and drying compartment and between said compartments along the lower part of said cabinet to the lower part of said dehydrator, said air path defining means including a fan having an intake communicating with that portion of said path extending upwardly through said dehydrator, a discharge duct for said fan extending through said partition into said clothes drying compartment and having a discharge opening disposed substantially tangential to the circumference of said drum and extending in a direction in opposed relation to said direction of rotation of said drum whereby at least the major portion of air discharged by said fan flows through said drum in counterow to the direction of rotation of said drum, an opening in the front of said cabinet for the loading and unloading of clothes into said clothes drying compartment and an opening in the top of said cabinet for loading of chemical into said dehydrator,

2. A clothes dryer as defined in claim 1, comprising means in said air path between saiddehydrator and said fan discharge opening for heating the air before discharge into said drying compartment.

References Cited in the le of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS Van Calcar et al July 15, 1913 

